Anakin strolled along the ship’s docking bay and moved to a fighter ship that had the right “speed capabilities” for him.  The ladder descending with a whooshing motion down onto the docking floor and Anakin gripped the rungs tightly as he went up two steps.  He glanced back at Padmé, her anxious chocolate colored eyes staring at him from the corner of the entrance into the bay.  Anakin smiled gently at her and she managed to have the corner’s of her lips tug up.  

“Padmé, don’t worry.  No harm will come to me, I will restore order to the destruction I have caused.  And I will come back for you, I promise.” He told her in an earnest tone.  Padmé bit her lip and looked down, unsure if he could really make such a promise.

“Padmé,” Anakin voice softly flowed from his lips, she looked back up. “I need you to stay here on the ship and make sure the stormtroopers stay in the rear of the ship.  Do not let them know I have gone and stay only in the cockpit, do not wander anywhere else around the ship.” She nodded and fingered with the snippet on her necklace. He waved her goodbye and climbed the rest of the ladder into his fighter cockpit.  The engine roared to life and as the clear cockpit hood came down, he uttered two words before the shields were lowered, and he blasted off through the Naboo atmosphere into space.

“I promise.”

And that reiteration, meant the galaxy to Padmé.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anakin pushed the button next to his steering yoke to end his transmission.  He now fixed his eyes on the enormous spaceship in front of him, the Death Star.  He sighed and recalled how he used to call this place home, but all it caused was death and destruction.  Disgusting.   As he pushed his yoke forward to the docking bay of this enormous death trap, his promise to Padmé haunted his mind.

“And I will come back for you, I promise.”

But the doubt of not being able to fulfill that promise was eminent, all his life, he made nothing but empty promises.  He had to keep this one, or he would never forgive himself. And Anakin Skywalker had a list of things to forgive himself for, starting with Darth Vader.

Anakin gave the clearance code to enter the docking bay and the blue shield flicked on and off until they were fully lowered, allowing him to dock his ship.  He landed swiftly, as he has so many times and lowered his ladder which hit the floor with a loud metal echo.  As the engines sluggishly powered down, the cockpit whooshed opened.  Anakin pushed himself out of the pilot seat and decided to ignored the ladder to his right and instead, swing over the side of the ship, landing hard.  Anakin showed no sign of pain and straightened his cloak over his head, covering his piercing blue eyes.  All noise stopped in the hangar, no one dared to speak a word and all sets of eyes were glued to Anakin as he walked towards the automatic door hatch that led to the inside of the Death Star.   Anakin didn’t even look at any of them, he looked down, leaving all of these people that he used to work with behind.  

As he exited the hangar bay into the bright hallway, the echoes of approaching footsteps from the left caused Anakin’s force senses to perk up.  Storm Troopers.  Did they know?  If he ran, he would automatically give his intentions away, he had to stay in character… for now.  

In a matter of seconds, two stormtroopers rounded the left corner and walked up to Anakin.  They saluted him and the stormtrooper to his left spoke up.

“Lord Vader, Emperor Palpatine was notified of your return from your mission to Naboo.  But he is concerned with the lack of troopers that you brought back so he wants to speak with you immediately with us as your escorts.”  Anakin almost smiled giddily, this was working out better than he expected.

“Of course.” He told them and followed them down the hallway that led to Sidious’ chambers.  Anakin saw the elevator ahead at the end of the hall, knowing in less than a minute, he would be face to face with the dark lord of the sith.  This never bothered Anakin before, he would stood at Sidious’ side for two years now.  But now, he would face him as not his friend, but his enemy.  In truth, Anakin now realized, thanks to Padmé, that Sidious was never his friend, he never cared for Anakin.  He just wanted him to do his dirty work, someone so powerful to strike fear into everyone but so weak that he could be brainwashed by anyone.  His mind swam around with self doubt, nerves, broken promises and what he hated the most, fear.  

He entered the elevator along with his two escorts and the elevator lurched up quickly, making Anakin wish he ate a smaller lunch.  Beads of sweat rolled down his face just standing there, the waiting was slowly killing him, anxiety eating him alive. He just wanted to be there right then and there, so the all the doubts and fear would be pushed out of his mind.  He wanted to make things right again as soon as possible, not just for him, not just for Padmé, for the entire galaxy.  He caused this mess, and he was going to clean it up.  

The elevator now opened, only having to travel a few floors before its destination was reached.  They stepped out of the elevator right in front of only room in the hall.  Anakin could sense the darkness radiating off that room and knew right behind that wall was the dark lord.  

The troopers opened the door with their passkey and they all entered into the room, the door swooshing shut behind them.  

Anakin noticed two imperial guards stood at the door, standing as stiff as a board. The room itself was enormous, the back of the room was a large window panel that looked over the blackness of space in front of them, planets and stars dotting the blackness.  All owned by Sidious.  Silver and metallic chrome lined the wall and in the middle of the room, a large black chair, its back toward Anakin and the troopers, was set on top on a raised floors with stairs leading to it.

“Darth Vader,” A slow, thick voice began from behind the chair.  “How nice of you to rejoin us, I trust your mission was a success?”

“More or less.” Anakin stated, shifting his weight between his right and left legs. The chair spun around leisurely, revealing Darth Sidious sitting in it, his ghostly white, wrinkled face shrouded by his black cloak.  He put his hand near his mouth, as if contemplating Anakin’s answer.  Then, he eyed the guards by the door and, with a wave of his hand, he bluntly said “Leave us.” to the guards and troopers.  They left promptly, only Anakin and the Sith Lord remaining.

“I see the skin treatments that I have issued you to have, have been working.  You no longer need the suit now, and you look like your old self again.” Sidious remarked, stalling his real question.

“Why did you call me here?” Anakin asked him, spearing his soul with his bright eyes.

“Don’t be bitter, Vader.  I wanted to check up on my apprentice and see how his mission went.”

“Stop lying to me, you just want to know about the troopers I left behind.” Anakin jabbed.  

“So, then, if you seem to be steering that way, why did you leave valuable troopers on the planet of Naboo, a very clear planet that hates the Empire!” Sidious yelled and moved to be ready to rise from his chair at any given moment.

“I found out the truth, and I didn’t need troopers to escort me back to this heap of junk.” Anakin spat, staring straight into Sidious’ old eyes, showing his true sincerity of his words.

Fire burned in Sidious’ eyes, he could tell where this was heading.  

“So, you think you know the truth, even though I have been taking care of you all these years, mentoring you, teaching you-

“It was all a LIE!” Anakin yelled and repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists to release his excess stress.

“You have done so many atrocities to the galaxy and to me.  And I will not stand for it!  You were the one who plagued my mind with nightmares, you gave the order to destroy all jedi, you killed three jedi yourself, you made me think my own wife was betraying me, who turns out to be alive, another lie of yours, and it turns out, you were the one that was on the dark side all along! And I actually thought you cared for me, like you were my father, but I was so stupid to think that I was any more special to you than any of your other throwaway apprentices.  When they get old and useless, you pick up a new one, no remorse or feelings for the last.  You have just been using me for the last two years just to do your dirty work and you could rule over this galaxy with an iron fist!”

Sidious clenched his teeth together and hissed.

“Isn’t this what you wanted? Peace throughout the galaxy?”

“This ISN’T peace!  The whole galaxy hates the Empire, they want their freedom back, riots have come, rebellions, violence between both sides, do you call that peace?” Anakin shot back and Sidious was speechless.

“So, in the name of the galactic republic, you are under arrest.  Come peacefully and you might have a more comfortable punishment for your crimes against humanity.” He told the sith lord, reaching for the hilt of his lightsaber.  Sidious smirked sinisterly and cackled.

“The republic is DEAD! They no longer have authority, what makes you think you can even arrest me?” He taunted.  Anakin bit his lip and leaned his neck over ever so slightly, cracking the cartilage inside.

“The Republic might be dead, but I promise you, it will be resurrected.  And it’s resurrection starts… now.  So, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Anakin began pacing back and forth, an animal ready to attack. “You’re choice but I would choose the easy if I were you.”

“Oh, my dear boy, there is never an easy way.”  Sidious sneered and launched his hand forward and force lightning sparked out of his fingers, lighting up the entire room.  In a split second, Anakin whipped out his still blood red lightsaber, and blocked the lightning from hitting his face.  He squinted his face and clenched his teeth in concentration, the weight and power of the force lightning pressing against his lightsaber in the opposite direction he wanted it to go.  Anakin trudged forward, pushing the lightning back to its origin with all his might.  Beads of sweat formed on his brow and he used the force around him to boost his strength.  Sidious shrieked and jerked his hands forward momentarily, intensifying the force of his lightning.  Anakin used the momentum of the force and pushed it back into Sidious’ hand.  He fell back into his chair and shook his head slowly.  

Anakin stalked him, coming closer.

“You are getting too old for this Sidious.” He told the frail man.  The elderly man slowly arose out of his chair, having a superior air still around him. He reached for his lightsaber in his robe and it ignited, crimson red filling the area around him.   

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He asked, gripping his lightsaber hilt with his wrinkly fingers.

“I have never been more sure in my life.”

Sidious yelled and charged at Anakin.  Anakin took a step back to block the oncoming lightsaber heading straight for his head.  Sidious moved the blade quickly to Anakin’s legs but Anakin jumped over the saber and landed his feet firmly on the ground with a sickening thud.  He rose his lightsaber and aimed it at Sidious’ side, Sidious blocked, taking the strength he had to move Anakin’s lightsaber in a circular motion back to it’s owner.  Anakin, eyes narrowed, flipped over Sidious and tried to slice him in the back while Sidious himself whipped around and summoned the force to throw Anakin against the wall.  The sides of light and dark, good and evil, life and death danced around the room striking, dodging, flipping, jumping, running, all in the battle that would decide the fate of the galaxy.  The fate of the Sith, the fate of the Jedi, the fate of Anakin Skywalker himself.  

The battle dragged on, each move cancelling out the other, the prospect of a stalemate looming.  Through a clamped jaw, Anakin kept fighting and began to feel all of his scars and bruises stinging all throughout his body.  He began to feel himself losing, Sidious was gaining on him, taking advantage of his weary state.  The dark lord now grinned evilly and as Anakin was lifting up his lightsaber to execute a weak move, he used the force to slam Anakin back into a steel support beam.  The steel beam jammed itself into Anakin’s back and he groaned, sliding down onto the floor.  Breathing heavily, Anakin weighted the probability of him winning this battle, him a random Jedi against the dark lord of the sith that manipulated and scared people into servitude for a living.  His chances it seemed, were low.  He shakily rose up as Sidious smoothly trailed over to Anakin.  His heart pounded against his chest, begging to rest before it exploded, his muscles screaming for mercy.  But Anakin ignored that all as the he rose his lightsaber to block the crimson blade from his face.  The lightsabers were now in a deadlock, holding still as each of the opposing forces used all of their muscle to push the lightsaber away and make the winning move.  Sucking in air, Anakin closed his eyes and tried to envision the tranquility of Naboo… but his thoughts wandered to Tatooine, his home planet.  It wandered to the moment he first met the Jedi and then the phrase that they all uttered.

“The Chosen One.”  The words echoed through Anakin’s mind in this moment, Qui-Gon, said it, Mace Windu said it, Obi-Wan said it, he said it.

“I am the chosen one!”

Anakin pushed back through his fatigue and a whole new strength pushed the blade away from Anakin and towards his opponent's face. Anakin grinned mischievously and ducked, moving his blade to Sidious’s legs, singeing each leg with damage.  Sidious dropped his lightsaber and it levitated to Anakin.  Now, Sidious slumped to the floor and Anakin pointed his blade to Sidious’s face.

“You are under arrest.”   

Sidious chuckled but Anakin forced pushed him to the wall and kept him there under immense pressure.  Anakin called all the guards into the room to explain the entire situation, and to keep Sidious under wraps forever.

“Vader, you must know you are making a mistake!” Sidious pleaded, eye wide.

“I am not Vader, I am Anakin.”

Rewritten part! YAY!!!! This is now what happened, this is my canon stuff.  So, I hope the battle scene is much better, I really hope so! Please VCF (vote, comment, follow) and I shall post Part Six soon! 

Thanks guys!